About Us
PROUD LOUDOUN COUNTY BAKERY START-UP
Little Austria was started by two young Austrians, Berni and Helene, who were on a mission to find authentic strudel in the United States. Not finding what they were looking for, they decided to take things into their own hands.
Starting out of a shared kitchen and equipped with a mixer, an apple peeler, and a rolling pin the two started baking. The word got out and the demand for strudel grew quickly. After a year of baking, and not being able to keep up, they needed to buy a whole bakery’s worth of equipment to keep rolling out the dough for their sought after strudels.
Today, Little Austria has grown into an award winning small business offering a delicious strudel experience by staying true to the traditional technique of hand-stretching the dough and by using locally sourced, high quality ingredients, to craft what is the most popular dessert in Austria - Strudel!
The Founders
MEET HELENE AND BERNHARD GALLENT
Helene and Berni grew up in Carinthia, the southernmost State in Austria, in a beautiful area known for its mountains and crystal-clear lakes. Berni moved to the United States in 2009 in pursuit of the American Dream, Helene followed him six years later.
Spending much of their time as skiing and snowboard instructors, they met back in 2004 in Hochrindl, a ski resort in the Austrian Alps.
Before their strudel venture started, Helene was working as a special education teacher and as a speech therapist for children. Berni used to work in humanitarian logistics, responded to global emergencies and shipped aid and relief supplies to people in need all over the world.
Now they are both full time in the strudel business, committed to their mission on making a delicious Austrian dessert widely available in the United States.
Helene and Berni are raising a lovely family in Northern Virginia.
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